The Post Up: Beautiful Day

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Shortened version today, I had a friend call yesterday and remind me that her flight was getting in at 12 a.m. and she’d be crashing at my place. I started my usual recapping routine then I had a liveblog and had to send some stuff to a coworker and before I knew it, it was 2am and I was waiting for my friend to get in who I hadn’t seen in forever, so we’re going short recaps here.

My MLK holiday of watching bball ended up being full of errands and more writing than anyone in their sane mind should complete in one day, plus two liveblogs so my fingers are tired and my brain is not really working.

I definitely confused Pavlovic with Mo Williams during the Lakers/Cavs game. The Lakers/Cavs game that the Lakers won.

Beautiful.

I<3 Ariza.

Okay, we’ve got some game notes coming today as well, so be sure to look for those.

And of course, on a day like today, what else can I say, but, anything is possible. Happy day, U.S. commenters. I’m proud I get to witness this moment.

Unfortunately, I think Amar’e and the Suns thought the inauguration was last night and that’s why they took the game off, holy ugly. I’m not even discussing that debacle. 104-87 for the Celtics.

I’m watching this John Thompson piece on TNT and I’ve got tears streaming and my heart could burst. I hope you’ve all gotten to watch this!

The Raptors lost another close one. Big surprise there. I wrote my first negative piece today, over at The Score and it made me question who I was becoming. I was actually angry with Chris Bosh today, so angry in fact, that I was pretty cranky with a friend until I eventually blew up and told him my anger was actually at Bosh and the Raptors and Jay and BC and the losing.

Didn’t expect to get so angry over a team that isn’t even mine. Funny how that happens. Anyway, the Raps lost to Atlanta 87-84 and Joe Johnson saved the day for the Hawks while Jamario Moon apparently killed it for the Raptors.

My Warriors took down the poor Wizards in a battle of injury-plagued disappointment teams. Monta coming back soon? It appears that way!

San Antonio only getting by Charlotte, 86-84 thanks to a 25-point performance from my fave Bobcat, Raja Bell that was almost enough to shock the Spurs.

Detroit took down Memphis 87-79 and Ivy played great for the Pistons, trying to prove that he’s not the guy who should be the sixth man. I know, I heard his post game where he said he’d do whatever was needed to win a championship and I also know that Rip has already been there, but still, I can’t roll with the image of Iverson coming off of the bench. Not feeling that. Thoughts, Detroit fans?

Greg Oden with a career-high 24 points as the Blazers used a strong fourth quarter to stomp out the Bucks, taking the game 102-85. Oden had 15 rebounds to go with those points as well.

ps, before you get to the two recaps that were finished before I needed to kick this into go-go-gadget speedy finish, I stumbled upon this photo.

He’s crazy. And good. Crazy good.

Houston 115 Denver 113

While the Nuggets were again without Carmelo Anthony, the Rockets were missing both Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest. In the match up of undermanned teams, the Rockets were able to prevail, thanks to a31-point perfomance from Yao Ming and a pair of missed free throws late from Kenyon Martin. This was a wild one, as each team came out firing and the rapid-fire pace didn’t let up. With the teams trading leads, Denver led in the third before the Rockets started running and went into Yao as they outscored Denver 25-19 in the quarter and took a 90-87 lead into the fourth. In the final quarter JR Smith got hot for the Nuggets as he poured in 17 points to keep the Nuggets close but it wasn’t enough as Kenyon Martin had a chance to tie the game in regulation with free throws, but missed the first, then had to miss the second intentionally. A Yao rebound finished that game up. In addition to Yao’s 31, Rafer Alston had 18 points and 11 assists as Von Wafer also scored 18. Smith led Denver with 24 points as Nene had 23 points to go with 12 rebounds and Kenyon Martin added 22.

New Orleans 103 Indiana 100

Chris Paul and Danny Granger each wanted to put on a show yesterday. In a game that went down to the buzzer, it was first Granger who drew the ooh’s and ahh’s from the crowd as he drilled a three with 2.5 seconds left on the clock to tie the game at 100, all. Chris Paul was not about to let all of the shine go to Granger and he wasn’t about to let his team drop another game. On the final possession of the game, CP3 rose and hit a three over Granger as the clock expired, win Hornets. Paul finished with 27 points and 9 assists while Peja Stojakivic had 26 points and Rasual Butler added 17. Granger finished with 30 points for the Pacers as Troy Murphy added 17 points and 11 rebounds.